Feed mechanism



(NO MOdeL) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

P. H. RICHARDS.

FEED MECHANISM.

No. 487,428. Patented Dec. 6, 1892.

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3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Patented Dec. 6, 1892.

(No Model.)

F. H. RICHARDS. FEED MECHANISM. No. 487,428.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-.Sheet 3.

P. H. RICHARDS.

FEED MECHANISM.

No. 487,428. Patented Dec. 6, 1892.

Wz'mewea: Invembr:

' U ITED STATES PATENT Curios.

FRANCIS H. RICHARDS, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

FEED MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 487,428, dated December 6, 1892.

Application filed February 3. 1892. Serial No. 420,170. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANCIS H. RICHARDS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feed Mechanisms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of feed mechanisms adapted for imparting reciprocating movements to the slides of machines, the object being to furnish a power mechanism adapted to actuate a slide or like part of machinery in either direction and also to actuate the same by hand-power either independently of or in conjunction with the power mechanism.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan view of a feed mechanism embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the mechanism. Figs. 3 and 4 are vertical cross-sections in line a a of Fig. 1 and illustrate certain features of the construction and operation of the apparatus. Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section in line b b of Fig. 1. Figs. 6 and 7 are vertical sections in line a c of Fig. 3, showing certain details of the clutchactuating device.

Similar characters designate like parts in all the figures.

The improved feed mechanism herein shown and described is designed for use in machines of various kinds, and itis especially adapted for use in the turning-machine described and claimed in my application, Serial No. 421,522, filed February 15, 1892. The operative parts of the feed mechanism are shown supported by a framework, which is designated in a general way by B, and consists of the base or bottom plate 2, the slide-block 4, uprights 3 and 5, and top plate 6. The several horizontal shafts are carried in bearings fixed to the forward upright 5 and the rearward upright 3, respectively, while the upper and lower bearings for the vertical shaft are carried by the top plate 6 and the elevated portion 8 of the bottom plate, respectively.

The machine part to be actuated by the feed mechanism consists or may consist of a slide, as 58, suitably mounted on the slide block 4 and having means-as, for instance, the projection 58' and the nut 59-for conmeeting said machine part with the principal slide 57 of the feed mechanism.

Power may be applied to the mechanism by means of an ordinary belt applied to the driving-pulley 7, which is shown removably fixed by means of key 10 and nut 10 (see Fig. 5) to the right-hand end of the driving-shaft 9 outside of the upright 3 of the framework. Said driving-shaft is journaled in bearings formed in the end walls or uprights 3 and 5, respectively. A sleeve 12 is shown carried on said shaft 9 between uprights 3 and 5 and is fixed thereon by a key 13. Said sleeve 12 has thereon aworm 14 and a pinion 15, which meshes with the corresponding gear 19,formed on another sleeve 17, that is carried on another shaft 16, carried by bearings in said uprights and parallel to said shaft 9. The sleeve 17 has formed thereon a worm 18, similar to the aforesaid worm 14. The two shafts, being thus geared together, rotate in opposite directions. A vertical hollow feed-shaft 20 is carried in a lower bearing 21, which is fixed in the bottom plate 8 by means of a nut 22, and in an upper bearing 23, that is fixed to the top plate 6 by means of suitable screws, as 24, Fig. 1. A friction-wheel is freely fitted onto a flange or collar 26 of the shaft 20. A key 27 passes through said wheel and through a mortise 28 in the shaft 20, which mortise is of sufficient width to permit of a slight vertical movement of the said key. The key 27 passes through a rod 29, which is fitted to slide vertically in the bore 30 of the shaft 20, said rod being actuated by hand in a manner hereinafter set forth. A worm wheel 31, meshing with the worm 18 on shaft 16 and having on the upper side thereof a frictionface 61 to engage the friction-wheel 25, is fitted to freely rotate on the feed-shaft 2O immediately below the collar 26 thereof. Immediately above said collar 26 is similarly fitted a like worm-wheel 32, having on its lower side a friction-face 62 to engage the friction-wheel 25, said worm-wheel meshing with the worm 14 on shaft 9. A worm-wheel (designated in a general way by C) is fixed to the shaft 20, immediately above the wheel 32, by means of a key 33. Said worm-wheel C is shown made in two parts, being preferably of the wellknown composite construction usually employed in profiling-machines, and consists of the lower part 34, keyed to the shaft 20, and the upper part 35, freely fitted on the shaft 20 and adjustably fixed to the lower portion 34 by means of suitable adjustingscrews in a well-known manner. The upper part 35 of the worm wheel 0 has formed thereon a hub or sleeve 36, which extends upward through the bearing 23 and has a hub 37 fixed thereon by means of a key 38 or a binding-screw 39, or both. when the binding-screw is used, the hub 37 is split, as at 40, to permit of the clamping of said hub onto the sleeve 36. A washer 41 and a nut 42, screwed onto the upper end of the shaft 20, hold the parts in place.

The hand-lever for actuating the mechanism by hand is designated in a general way by H,and consists principally of the said hub 37 and the hollow arm 43, which is screwed into said lever'hub and forms a bearing for the eccentric-rod 44, that extends through said arm and has fixed to the outer end thereof a handle 45. Said handle, which is movable on the hand-lever, is held in place by means of a nut 46 and is prevented from turning on the rod 44 by means of a key 47, as shown in Fig. 3. The enlarged inner end of the rod 44 is furnished with an eccentric or crank pin 50, which engages in a notch 51, formed in the rod 29. The enlarged part of the rod 44 has a flattened spot 52, as best illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, which show the rod 44 in its medial position and one of its terminal positions, respectively, the positions ofthe eccentric-pin 50 being shown in dotted lines. As therein shown, the hub 37 of the handle H is bored to receive a pair of plugs or thrust-pins 53 53' and a pair of springs 54 54', which are held in place by nuts 55 55. The springs 54 and 54' force the pins 53 and 53' down onto the opposite ends, respectively, of the flattened spot 52,and thus tend to hold said rod normally in the medial position shown in Fig. 6. The operator having by means of the handle 45 turned the rod 44 over toward the right hand, as shown in Fig. 7, on releasing said handle the pin 53 and spring 54, above described, operate to return said rod to its normalposition. (IllustratedinFig.6.) When the rod is turned over toward the left hand, the pin 53 and spring 54 act in a similar manner to return the rod to the same position. The worm-wheel C meshes with'the worm 56, which is formed on the principal slide or shaft 57, that is journaled in bearings in the said uprights 3 and 5 and connected to the machine part to be actuated. Said worm-wheel and the worm 56 operate, therefore, after the manner of a pinion and rack. By loosening the nut 59 the slide-shaft 57 may be rotated in its bearings to carry the same longitudinally of the mechanism for adjusting the position of the machine part relatively to the position of the handle H, so as to bring said handle into the most convenient position for use as required in any particular case.

In using the machine the operator grasps the handle 45 of the hand-lever II and by swinging the lever toward the right or left hand imparts through the gear 0 and the shaft or slide 57 a corresponding movement to the machine part 58. \Vhenever during the stroke of the machine part it is required to actuate said part by power, the operator, without releasing his grasp, turns the handle 45 in the direction of the required movement. By turning said handle from the position indicated in Fig. 6 over toward the right to the position indicated in Fig. 7 the crank-pin 50 of the rod 44 draws upward the rod 29 to force the clutch-disk into engagement with the upper clutch -wheel 32, which is actuated by means of the driving mechanism, hereinbefore described, to turn the shaft 20 toward the right hand in Figs. 1 and 2. By turning the handle 45 in the reverse direction the connecting parts described throw the clutch-disk into engagement with the lower clutch-wheel 31, which revolves in a direction opposite to wheel 32 and actuates the shaft 20 to swing the lever H toward the left hand in Fig. 1. On releasing the handle 45 during the swinging movement of the handlever in either direction the spring 53 or 53', as the case may be, operates, as hereinbefore described, to return the rod 44 and handle 45 to their aforesaid medial positions. By means of this feed mechanism the slide 57 and any machine part connected therewith may be 0perated by hand in either direction, and power may be applied to the continuance of said movement without the operator releasing his grasp from the hand-lever or relinquishing his control (in a general way) of the machine part being actuated.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In a feed mechanism, the combination, with the feed-shaft and a clutch, of a clutchwheel and means actuating the same, a handlever carried on the feed-shaft and having the handle thereof movable thereon, and connections operatively connecting the handle with the clutch, whereby the clutch may be actuated to engage and disengage the same, substantially as described.

2. In a feed mechanism, the combination, with a feed-shaft carrying a clutch, of two clutch-wheels and means actuating the same in opposite directions, respectively, the handlever carried on the feed-shaft and having the handle thereof movable thereon, and connections operatively connecting the handle with the clutch, whereby the clutch may be actuated to engage and disengage either clutch-wheel, substantially as described.

3. In a feed mechanism, the combination, with the feed-shaft and a clutch, of a clutchwheel and means actuating the same, the hand-lever carried on the feed-shaft, and the lever-handle carried by a shaft journaled 10ngitudinally of the lever and having a crank, and a rod operatively connecting the crank of said han d-lever shaft with the clutch,whereby the clutch may be actuated by turning the handle of the hand-lever, substantially as described.

4. In a feed mechanism, the combination, with the feed-shaft provided with a clutch, of two clutch worm-wheels mounted on said shaft, gearing revolving said wheels in opposite directions, respectively, a hand-lever fixed to the feed-shaft for actuating the same by hand, and a handle movable on the lever and operatively connected with the clutch for actuating the feed-shaft by power in either direction, substantially as described.

5; In a feed mechanism, the combination, with a machine partto be actuated and with a slide, substantially as described, connected to actuate the machine part, of the feed-shaft geared to said slide and provided with a clutch, a clutch-wheel and means actuating the same, a hand-lever for actuating the feed-shaft by hand, and means, substantially as described, actuating the clutch from the handle of the lever, substantially as described.

6. In a feed mechanism, the combination, with a clutch mechanism and with the handlever carried by the feed-shaft of the mechanism and having the rod 44 connected to actuate the clutch devices of the mechanism, of thrust-spring devices, substantially as described, acting on said rod to return the same from its terminal positions to its medial position, substantially as described.

7. In a feed mechanism, the combination, with the feed-shaft and the hand-lever, of the rod 44, having the portion 52 and the crankpin 50, and the spring-actuated plugs bearing on the'opposite ends of said portion 52, substantially as shown and described.

8. In a feed mechanism, the combination, with the feed-shaft provided with a clutch, of the clutch-wheels 31 and 32, the shafts 16 and 9, each having a worm meshing with said wheels, respectively, gearing connecting said shafts, means revolving the shafts, and the hand-lever, the lever-handle movable on the lever, and connections from said handle to the clutch for engaging and disengaging the clutch with and from either of the clutchwheels, substantially as described.

FRANCIS H. RICHARDS. Witnesses:

EMMA G. FOWLER, HENRY L. REcKARD. 

